HOH: Wilson's Shrine

Sometime in the winter of 2010, I got a break on an important find that helped to complete the Hall of Honor which had only recently opened the previous summer.

Of all the cases of Chiefs Hall of Famers only one contained no item of interest. It was Jerrel Wilson’s.

Having no way to reach his family and unable to find a suitable artifact for his Hall of Fame case, I was forced to leave it empty except for his bust and a paragraph on his significance in the franchise’s history.

But then Howard McHenry came to me carrying a host of historical items from his own personal collection of Chiefs memorabilia. Just as important, Howard offered, on behalf of the Arrarat Shrine of Kansas City where he once sat as potentate, two mint condition Super Bowl IV jerseys that had been donated to Arrarat by Wilson and teammate Johnny Robinson.

Both contained the famed 10-year AFL patch.

Wilson, now deceased, had been a Shriner and had helped raise thousands of dollars for Shriners’ Hospitals while he lived in Kansas City.

Deserted as an infant, supposedly placed in a basket and left on the courthouse steps in New Orleans, he had been adopted by kind and generous people, later went on to star at the Southern Mississippi and eventually was drafted by the Chiefs playing for the franchise for 15 years. He passed away at the too early age of 63.

Wilson became a Shriner in 1969, along with Johnny Robinson and they both donated their jerseys to the Ararat Shrine where they were displayed for 36 years.

Thanks to Howard and all the Nobles at the Ararat Shrine for their generous donation. Now all the Chiefs Hall of Fame player cases are complete.